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Every Customer Conversation is a Moment of Truth for Banks

Every customer conversation is a moment of truth. The way in which you conduct this conversation will alter the customer's relationship with your bank. It will create a lasting impression—either good or bad—that either increases customer loyalty or drives the customer to defect.

For most banks, there are a core set of customer interactions that occur frequently or which represent high-value engagements. Rather than managing moments of truth as isolated, channel-dependent incidents, Intelligent Conversation Management treats each moment as part of an interconnected conversation. The result transforms your relationship with your customers by leveraging an understanding of past engagements and real-time information to predict future interactions.

Every Customer Conversation is a Moment of Truth for Banks

1.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Every Customer Conversation is a
Moment of Truth – Are You Ready?
How Banks Can Successfully Manage Every Customer Conversation

2.
The Moment of Truth
A customer service representative (CSR) picks up the phone. At the other end, a customer wants to increase
their credit card spending limit. Does your CSR have the information he needs about this customer? Is he
going to know what to do, and can he complete the change quickly? Will the right regulations be applied so
that the interaction is compliant with fair lending practices? Can you increase the risk associated with this
customer in real time without additional due diligence that drives added cost and benefits to your business?
And will you able to capitalize on the conversation to increase the customer’s lifetime value?
With this common request, a moment of truth has arrived: The way in which you conduct this conversation
will fundamentally alter the customer’s relationship with your bank. It will create a lasting impression –
either good or bad – as it represents that moment when you can deliver an experience that either increases
customer loyalty or drives the customer to defect.
Every customer interaction
represents a moment of truth that
Can you do it fast?
Do I have the right info?
Can I afford it?
Can I focus on the customer?
will alter your relationship with your
Can you confirm now?
Can I execute the process
customer. Your ability to deliver an
Don’t bother me with
quickly & correctly?
irrelevent offers.
Can I make a sale?
experience that satisfies the needs of
each participant as the conversation
unfolds can mean the difference
CUSTOMER
between a high-value, long-term
SERVICE
customer relationship – or a quick
CUSTOMER
REPRESENTATIVE
defection.
MOMENT
OF TRUTH
Can we improve the relationship?
Can we meet retention & profit
targets?
Is the process efficient?
Can we generate more revenue?
EXECUTIVE STAKEHOLDERS
Unfortunately, there many ways in which this moment of truth can go wrong. Common missteps include:
� The customer provides information to an IVR and is then forced repeat it all to the CSR.
� The customer endures long wait times while the CSR searches through multiple systems to find
information and figure out the right process for changing the cardholder limit.
� The call does not meet compliance requirements because the CSR is unsure of which regulations
might apply.
� The process to approve the change as outlined to the customer does not meet their expectations and
a corresponding complaint call ends up costing the company more.
� The outcome is not what the customer expects and could begin to feel the company does not value
her long-term relationship. She considers defecting to another company.
� The CSR delivers the “offer of the week” that is unrelated to the customer and situation. The offer is
immediately rejected and offends the customer.
The problem is that this conversation has not been managed intelligently, resulting in an outcome that
is unsatisfactory to all and leading to higher rates of policyholder defection, more expensive and less
compliant interactions, lower profitability and reduced customer lifetime value.
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3.
Intelligently Managing the Moment of Truth
Each moment of truth contains multiple tipping points that affect every participant
such as the customer, the CSR or a branch agent and, ultimately, your bank. Each
point must be carefully – and intelligently – managed to achieve a successful
outcome. Consider the tipping points that are likely to occur when the customer
wants to increase their card spending limits:
Change to a Credit Card - Tipping Points
Customer
I want to spend as little
time as possible on the
phone.
I want a seamless
process and efficient
and rapid outcomes.
I want immediate proof
that the change is in
effect.
I expect recognition that
you value my business
and I only want an offer
that is right for me.
CSR
I need information
about this customer
before I answer the
phone.
I want to focus on the
inquiry and not waste
time navigating through
complex screens
and non-applicable
regulations.
I want to answer the
question without
escalation, on the first
try, and complete the
task within my SLA.
I want to make offers
that the customer will
accept and which will
make me money.
Executive
Stakeholders
The conversation needs The process outcome
to strengthen the
must meet profit and
customer relationship. risk targets while
retaining the customer.
The CSR must be
able to complete
the task efficiently
and in compliance
with regulations and
assigned KPIs.
The interaction should
generate additional
revenue and maximize
lifetime value.
The fact is that your CSRs have conducted this type of conversation thousands
of times. You understand the flow of the interaction, the information required to
complete the transaction and the interests and needs of each participant. The
difficulty comes in applying this intelligence consistently and accurately every time
this process is executed, as well as directly aligning the outcome with a carefully
balanced set of KPIs
Intelligent conversation management delivers value-added interactions by
considering the individual and the interaction within the context of the customer’s
overall relationship with your bank. Dynamically generated information, actions
and offers help you successfully navigate each tipping point in the conversation
to achieve the best possible outcome. With intelligent conversation management,
you can leverage your data to automatically anticipate the individual’s needs
and behavior, consistently apply best practices and guide the conversation so
that it satisfies the requirements of each participant. Throughout an interaction,
intelligent conversation management optimizes the conversation to offer your
customers’ value-added experiences that are aligned with company objectives by:
� Delivering an intelligent, real-time view of the customer across channels.
� Automatically and dynamically guiding the conversation.
� Learning and adapting during the conversation to deliver the right
information, action or offer at the right moment
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4.
Delivering the Intelligent View
The starting point for intelligently managing each conversation is the ability to
leverage your understanding of the customer, the information needed to support
the particular type of interaction and the typical process flow. This can be as
simple as automatically using information captured in different channels to
jump-start a conversation. For example, when an IVR captures the information
about the customer and the desired interaction to change a limit, you can use
this intelligence to immediately populate the CSR’s desktop with the customers’
account and portfolio information as well as automatically initiate the right
process. This enables your CSR to successfully manage the tipping point of having
necessary information before he answers the phone, leading to a more effective
and efficient conversation.
You can also use knowledge of past interactions in other channels to add value
to a conversation. Suppose this customer recently emailed a local branch to ask
about additional card products for their children going away to college. Using this
information, the CSR can be prompted to follow up with the customer at the right
time within the current conversation, increasing the likelihood of closing sales
and delighting the customer on multiple levels.
ANALYZE
VALUE
PROPENSITY
OPTIMIZE
RISK
MOMENT
OF TRUTH
EXECUTE
& ADAPT
Intelligent conversation management provides
capabilities to manage the flow of each
conversation, leveraging a real-time view of
the customer, predictive and adaptive analytics,
integrated channels, and dynamic processes
driven by real-time decisioning to achieve an
outcome that meets the needs of everyone
participating in the conversation.
DELIVER
The key to leveraging information gathered across multiple channels and
interactions is the intelligent desktop, which offers a comprehensive, one-stop
view of the customer’s relationship with your company. Using an intelligent
desktop, you can serve up the right information and process for a particular
customer and interaction in an intuitive and consistent way. This eliminates
many of the stumbling blocks to successfully managing each tipping point:
Branch Agents and CSRs no longer have to learn and use multiple systems
to find information, increasing the efficiency and proficiency of your company
representatives. Data maintained in the many systems used to support customer
interactions, such as the account database or Customer Information File (CIF),
2

5.
teller or branch sales and servicing systems, core banking systems, is accessible
in real-time, improving accuracy and relevancy. And with the ability to deliver a
role-based desktop, multiple users, including Branch Agents, CSRs and even selfservice customers on your website can leverage automated intelligence. In fact,
an interaction such as a limit change does not even have to be managed as a call
center action at all. With the intelligent desktop configured for self-service and
the ability to conduct conversations across channels, you can guide the customer
through the process of requesting a limit increase with an immediate confirmation
of the request delivered via email. Service level agreements can be applied for
regulatory purposes and expectations of process cycle time to completion can be
set with the customer so that repeat service calls can be avoided.
Driving Processes Dynamically
The complexity of banking processes used across multiple distribution channels
can make it difficult for Branch Agents and CSRs to deliver conversations that
are customer-focused, efficient, consistent and compliant. Traditional business
process management and business rules enable processes to be automated, which
can significantly improve the consistency and efficiency of interactions. However,
when process automation is integrated with predictive analytics, adaptive analytics
and real-time decisioning, the “guesswork” is removed from the process. The
flow of each conversation is driven dynamically with next-best-actions, offers and
recommendations personalized to the customer and the specific conversation.
Predictive and adaptive analytics combine historical customer data with real-time
information about the current interaction, such as the customer’s responses and
mood, to dynamically understand and anticipate customer behavior, predict future
value and assess the risk that this individual represents. Real-time decisioning
leverages these insights to drive the conversation dynamically. The CSR is guided
through the conversation so that the process is executed consistently. At the same
time, the conversation is specifically tailored to the customer and the current
situation.
Predictive analytics predict
the best way to improve the
customer relationship in
an upcoming interaction.
Adaptive analytics segment
customers so that each
interaction is personalized.
Real-time decisioning applies
these insights during each
conversation based on the
specific interaction, channel,
customer responses, mood,
compliance requirements
and other factors that affect
the predictive model. The
result is actionable analytics,
capable of dynamically
adapting to recommend the
most appropriate information,
action, offer and resolution for
the particular customer at the
most appropriate time.
For example, a wizard guides the CSR through the process of changing a limit,
making sure every required piece of information is captured, the process is
executed in the correct order and the right regulations are enforced. No longer
burdened with trying to filter through data or decide what to do next, the CSR
can focus exclusively on the customer, while the automated process optimizes
efficiency, consistency and compliance. No matter how new or inexperienced
the CSR, the customer experiences a confident, highly competent banking
representative who can complete the request in an efficient and professional
manner.
3

6.
Providing the Right Response at the Right Time
Intelligently managed customer conversations that use predictive analytics,
adaptive analytics and real-time decisioning can help your company reach its
goals for increasing the profitability and lifetime value of your customers. Many
interactions that were once considered simply service calls, such as a change to a
limit, can now be leveraged to increase retention and wallet share. For example:
� Analytics can predict which additional products or services a specific
customer is most likely buy and at what price. This prediction can be
combined with real-time information to generate a highly relevant crosssell or up-sell offer.
� Real-time awareness that the customer is unhappy during a conversation can
immediately replace a planned up-sell offer with a retention incentive or, if
analytics determine this customer is not worth retaining, no offer at all.
� Analytics and decisioning can assess the risk for this individual, either
overall or by product, and the expected losses at the portfolio level.
By interrogating data streams like credit bureaus, you can estimate
the likelihood of a positive adjudication and the expected underwriting
costs when increasing the risk or the risk associated with attriting the
customer.
In our sample moment of truth, the quote for increasing the credit limit can
take into account the customer’s risk factors, value to the company and so
forth to present an outcome that is likely to be accepted while meeting your
company’s profitability and risk targets. Knowledge of the customer and specific
interaction can be used to generate a personalized up-sell offer as well, such as
the additional card for the children’s benefit, rather than a one-size-fits-all offer
that bears no relationship to the situation. The experience successfully navigates
multiple tipping points: For the customer, the experience is one of a company that
values the relationship and acts accordingly. For the CSR, it is an interaction that
results in a sale – or even two. For the company, it is higher lifetime value and
profitability.
But suppose the customer expresses dissatisfaction with the process and
indicates she might shop around or complain to a regulator. Predictive and
adaptive analytics combined with real-time decisioning are crucial to helping
you negotiate this most important tipping point. The ability for adaptive analytics
to “learn” during the conversation in order to enhance predictions and adjust
recommendations allows you to overcome the negative reaction and manage
every interaction to deliver the best response for the particular moment in time.
For example, using awareness of the customer’s unhappiness, the planned
up-sell offer can be immediately and automatically replaced with a retention
strategy. Real-time decisioning adjusts the process to present the CSR with a
script that offers a discounted interest rate on the child’s card provided it has
a low spending limit and pre-set repayment plans. By instantly adapting the
process to respond precisely to the customer’s behavior and needs, the likelihood
of retention is maximized.
4
Intelligently Managing
Moments of Truth
Across the Customer Life Cycle
Acquisition
Can we determine a price
that takes into account the
prospect’s propensities, value
and risk?
Customer Service
Can CSRs always follow best
practices even with the most
complex processes?
Claims
Can we reach a settlement that
balances customer need with
claims objectives as the call
takes place?
Retention
Can we recognize when a
policyholder is likely to defect
and initiate a “save” strategy
during the conversation?
Cross-sell/Up-sell
Can we proactively trigger
personalized offers during
conversations to help agents
and CSRs feel comfortable
delivering offers more
frequently?

7.
Conclusion
Without question, every conversation you have with a prospect or customer
represents a moment of truth. Whether you are helping a prospect choose a
product, checking on the status of a service request, making changes to an
account or adding more household participants to your bank’s “wallet share”,
the manner in which you conduct each conversation can fundamentally alter how
your customers value your company and its product and services.
For most banks, there are is core set of customer interactions that occur
frequently or which represent high-value interactions, such as product changes
or selling a product bundle. As you consider how you can best leverage intelligent
conversation management to support your business, look to these frequent, highimpact interactions first. You will gain the greatest benefit — and achieve the
fastest ROI — by strategically implementing intelligent conversation management
rather than trying to apply it to every single process you use.
Intelligent conversation management can transform your relationship with your
customers. Rather than managing interactions as isolated, channel-dependent
incidents, intelligent conversation management treats each interaction as part of
an interconnected conversation, leveraging understanding of the customer, past
interactions and real-time information to predict future interactions and manage
each conversation within the overall context of the relationship. With intelligent
conversation management, you can successfully navigate through each moment
of truth to deliver experiences that enhance the value of your bank to your
customer – and the value of your customer to your bank.
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